UH Team Wins International Award for Novel Test to Improve Patient Care

UH Clinical Update | June 2025

A multidisciplinary team from University Hospitals has won an international UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence award for developing and implementing a first-of-its kind lab test to better guide antibiotics for patients suffering from Helicobacter pylori infection. This bacterium is a leading cause of peptic ulcers, gastritis and stomach cancer and is increasingly resistant to antibiotics, leading to treatment failure and increased suffering for patients.

Pictured left to Right: Rachel Wells, Navid Sadri, MD, PhD and Linda C Cummings, MD, MS.

UNIVANTS stands for Unity and Avant-Garde. It was created by Abbott with other leading healthcare organizations around the world with a common vision to celebrate and inspire healthcare excellence.

“The award is a celebration of teams working across disciplines to address unmet needs and achieve measurably better outcomes,” the organization said in a video statement.

At UH, this prestigious award has been years in the making. In 2019, pathologists led by Navid Sadri, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Genomic and Molecular Pathology, evaluated remnant gastric biopsy samples that were positive for H. pylori to detect genetic mutations in the bacteria that make them resistant to the antibiotics clarithromycin, levofloxacin and tetracycline. This study showed that mutation screening directly from biopsy specimens could predict treatment failure.

Based on these promising results, UH incorporated the H. pylori genotypic antimicrobial susceptibility test into the routine anatomic pathology clinical workflow in 2020, providing test reports with personalized treatment recommendations based on genetic markers of resistance.

Then in 2023 came the evidence of how well it was working. UH gastroenterologist Linda C. Cummings, MD, MS, Dr. Sadri and colleagues published the first-ever study describing the use of H. pylori genotypic resistance testing as the standard of care.

Their impressive results? The use of a recommended treatment regimen based on genetic markers of resistance was associated with 4.4 greater odds of eradication relative to unrecommended treatment. More recent analysis demonstrates that eradication success at UH for first-line therapy has improved from 77% in 2020-2021 to 93% in 2023.

“This innovative approach not only tracks antibiotic resistance trends but also underscores the value of genotypic testing and multidisciplinary collaboration in advancing antimicrobial stewardship and effectively treating H. pylori,” Dr. Sadri says. “It is a blueprint that can be replicated in other health care systems.”

"As a gastroenterologist involved in this initiative, I speak on behalf of clinicians who have greatly benefited from the incorporation of routine testing for genetic markers of antimicrobial resistance with tailored treatment recommendations,” Dr. Cummings says. “We have greater clinical confidence in choice of eradication therapy and have the satisfaction of knowing that we are providing the best regimen for our patients up front. This initiative has markedly increased our ability to eradicate H. pylori with the first course of treatment, reducing the need for multiple rounds of treatment and the frustrations associated with salvage therapy."

"As a pharmacist in this initiative, I've seen how crucial collaboration with physicians is,” adds UH pharmacist Rachel Wells. “Sharing my medication expertise helps them make informed decisions, directly improving patient care. Open dialogue fosters a strong team where everyone’s insights are valued, and it’s rewarding to contribute to a collective effort that truly makes a difference."

Dr. Cummings also recently received a grant from the American Gastroenterological Association to continue study of the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance in eradicating H. pylori. The $30,000 research project, with Dr. Sadri and others as co-investigators, focuses on the UH H. pylori assay to identify mutations associated with antibiotic resistance. Some mutations are commonly understood to be associated with resistance, but other mutations have been inconsistently linked to resistance. The grant will allow researchers to look at the impact of these other less well understood mutations on the ability to eradicate H. pylori.